| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | |
Logistical headache - How to package the region???Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea | ||
Hi everyone, I want to visit ALL the independent countries in Australasia/Oceania/Pacific plus some of the semi/non-independent ones. After having spent quite a lot of time looking into logistics I realized that doing that in one trip is probably a bad idea because (1) it's too much and (2) connections between some countries are either nonexistent or expensive. So now I'm thinking about 'packaging' the region into three separate trips (to be done on 3 separate occasions/years): (1) this year: fly to Brisbane from Europe with Korean Airlines and then do the following: Brisbane-Noumea-Vanuatu-Fiji-Tonga-Fiji-Samoa-Fiji-Tuvalu-Fiji-possibly Tarawa (if flights are resumed)-Nauru-Solomon Islands-PNG-Brisbane-Korea (...visit some of East Asia...)-Europe. I could also fly back from Fiji or Auckland to Seoul for not much more money but looking at flight schedules I guess that's not going to be better than going back to Brisbane. (2) a 2nd trip would be to fly to the US and then take the Continental island hopper to Hawaii-Marshall Islands-FSM-Palau and then somehow back to Europe (3) a 3rd trip would be French Polynesia and Cook Islands, both not independent but supposed to be really beautiful. :) Does that packaging make sense? Does anybody have some amazing ideas how to do it better? Any thoughts are highly welcome. PLEASE, don't write "there is nothing to see in country XYZ", "spend all your time in country ABC it's the nicest" etc. --- my idea is to visit ALL the fully independent countries in the region plus the more interesting semi-independent ones. | ||
Fiji-possibly Tarawa (if flights are resumed)-Nauru If you can't fly to Tarawa, Our Airline is supposed to start fortnight flights from Fiji to Nauru next month. Do I understand correctly that Tonga, Samoa and Tuvalu can only be reached from Fiji? (apart from flying to the US, AUS, NZ, JP etc.) Samoa can be reached also from American Samoa. I understand that air service from Kiribati to pretty much anywhere is cancelled for the time being, does anyone have any information on that? I think the only cancelled flights are to/from Fiji. | 1 | |
Hi aki2006, well, you are right that it is a real headache with the flights in the south pacific. Here is my schedule for the upcoming tour. Maybe that helps for planing your own trip. 01: Saturday Apr.28 - Cathey Pacific flight from Europe to Hongkong Palau, Micronesia (Yap and Phonpei) and Marshall islands I did two years ago with the Island Hopper. But if you have about two and a half months time you can add it to the above itinerary - there are flights from Guam to Fiji. Happy travels! | 2 | |
07: Sunday May 06 - IE700 Solomon Airlines - Honiara Brisbane 15:00 17:15 | 3 | |
Hi Ozziegiraffe, Cheers, | 4 | |
marcus, | 5 | |
For the micronesia segment, you can get back home by flying from Guam to Manilla then connecting back to Europe. There are also Asian carriers with service to Palau. I believe that Air Pacific is still flying to Kiribati. You might read the lovely FAQ the travelers on this board have put together, because one of the entries lists which airlines serve which countries. | 6 | |
Thanks everyone. Marcus: Thanks for providing your detailed itinerary. A bit rushed for my taste but that's a matter of personal choice. Tilos: I did read the FAQ before posting and the entry you are referring to was indeed pretty helpful. My headache currently is not to figure out what airlines are there in the region but how to best combine all those individual flights to come up with a nice round trip. "You can get back home by flying from Guam to Manilla then connecting back to Europe" --- Korean flies from both Guam and Palau, the problem is that I can't seem to find any DIRECT connections from the South Pacific or PNG to either Guam or Palau (without having to go to Australia etc.) | 7 | |
I can't seem to find any DIRECT connections from the South Pacific or PNG to either Guam or Palau AFAIK, there aren't direct flights to Guam or Palau from the South Pacific or PNG. Continental Micronesia had flights from Fiji to Guam but, AFAIK, that's no longer the case. | 8 | |
Hi aki2006, yes, I use the Bula Air Pass for most of the Air-Pacific-flights. On my way from Yap to Pohnpei in 2010 I had to transit in Guam and on the screens were a flight to Fidj shown. But that was Continental and anillos_de_saturno seems right, that this route is no more. Cheers, | 9 | |
I'm impressed by your itinerary Marcus. Was there some reason for not switching your Rarotonga and Tahiti visits around so that you flew directly into Raro, from Auckland, but then took the Thursday Air Raro/Air Tahiti Nui flight from Raro to Papeete? Edited by: lagoon | 10 | |
Hi lagoon, yes, there were two reasons: Cheers, | 11 | |
Thanks for the clarity, Marcus, really useful to know. Cheers! | 12 | |
I think that Niue and Tokelau would be a very different experience and should not be tossed to the side so quickly. I cannot speak for Wallis and Futuna because I have not got there yet. Niue has the very different Makatea type island and to see the small atoll life of Tokelau and the boat life to get there is a very interesting experience. Of course maybe you are just interested in just getting that passport stamp and not in really getting to know the Pacific. | 13 | |
@taranaki_chick: "Of course maybe you are just interested in just getting that passport stamp and not in really getting to know the Pacific." --> Sure, I'm going three times to the Pacific for a total of around 5 months because I'm just interested in those passport stamps rather than actually getting to know the Pacific. As a matter of fact, I'll stay the whole time at the airport and won't even bother to leave the building. | 14 | |
Touche! | 15 | |
Everyone has their own style of travel, and Marcus' itinerary wouldn't suit me. But that aside: +11: Friday May 11 - FJ007 Air Pacific - Fiji-Nadi Fiji-Suva 08:00 08:30 That's four Air Pacific flights in three days. Please be aware that flights are very often delayed (sometimes by days) or cancelled. If you're Tonga-Nadi flight is cancelled (not very uncommon) then you're stuck in Tonga and will miss the Samoa flight and you whole itinerary will be f**d, probably at significant expense to you. I would never recommend leaving less than a full 24 hours / 2 flights safety margin for international connections off Air Pac, or most likely other Pacific airlines. Second point: | 16 | |
I strongly suggest spending more time in Papua New Guinea, simply because of it's sheer size and geological, biological and anthropological diversity. I would also advise travelling over to Indonesian Papua as well. Apart from New Zealand, New Guinea is the only island in Oceania that has a considerable size. The country is bursting with customs and languages and a 5/6 hour PMV (public mobility vehicle) journey can take you from the Highlands of Goroka to the coastal jungles of Madang. Additionally, all the interests mainly lie in the villages, too, not the cities (which are often dull and can be dodgy, especially at night), which means spending more time exploring. My advice - don't wast a journey of a lifetime to the Land of the Unexpected with just a flying visit! | 17 | |
I think all of us would suggest spending more time in the particular place each of us love. However, I don't think that is the point of the PO's journey. Not my style, but to each his own. | 18 | |
Hi folks, @becks: Regarding Nadi-suva I first wanted to go overland all times. But as I mentioned, that there are few hotel options near Suva airport and the costs for flights from Nadi to Suva are almost the same as for taxi, I decided to sleep in Nadi and get the flight to Suva. Between flights 20 and 21 I will go overland for somesightseeing of Fiji on route from Suva to Nadi: @jrb_1983: Cheers, | 19 | |